Boy Wonder (film)
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| Boy Wonder | |
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| Directed by | Michael Morrissey |
| Written by | Michael Morrissey |
| Starring | Caleb Steinmeyer Zulay Henao Bill Sage Daniel Stewart Sherman Tracy Middendorf Chuck Cooper James Russo |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Boy Wonder is a 2010 American drama and psychological-thriller about vigilantism.
The film was written and directed by Michael Morrissey and stars Caleb Steinmeyer, Zulay Henao, Bill Sage, Tracy Middendorf, Daniel Stewart Sherman, Chuck Cooper, and James Russo.
Plot
A young boy named Sean Donovan lives with his mother and abusive alcoholic father. One night, his mother is attacked and killed during a carjacking, while at the police station his father dissuades Sean from picking a man out of a lineup and he moves the both of them into a less violent neighborhood.
Years later, Sean is an excellent student, but has grown somewhat antisocial, seeing abuse in everyday arguments, he dresses up at night in all black to defend people being beaten. He kills an assaulter in an attempted mugging, and an eyewitness account garners the attention of Teresa Ames (Zulay Henao) who had recently been promoted to the homicide division of the NYPD. She investigates Sean who frequents the police station, secretly searching for information on his mother's killer, learning about his life and that he is fluent in other languages such as Chinese after he angrily berates a restaurant staff for insulting Teresa and other customers in their language. Sean defends a young woman being violently abused by her pimp and strikes him with a baton before shooting him.
While riding the train Sean encounters a homeless man verbally harassing a Chinese family and the passengers of the train, he tells the family to leave the car before putting on face paint and brutally beating the man with brass knuckles. Teresa and her partner, both on the train go to investigate and Sean eludes them. Learning that the man in black spoke fluent Chinese, she suspects it's Sean. Her supervisor tells her not to investigate Sean, but she persists. During a school party, Sean has an episodic memory recall where he remembers his father doing nothing to help his mother when she was attacked, he finds a picture of him and the assailant as they were friends before they moved and assumes that to get her insurance money, Terry had staged the attack on her. Terry adamantly denies this, but sure of his guilt, Sean shoots and kills him. Teresa tracks Sean down who confesses to killing his father, but she decides to look the other way and disposes of the evidence.
Sometime later, Sean sends a letter to the man who killed his mother; currently serving 2 years on a plea bargain deal for another case, with two stamps; a black one to indicate his father's guilt, or a red one to indicate his father's innocence. The man sends the envelope back with the red stamp, but it is revealed that Sean laced the stamp with poison and he dies in agony within his solitary cell.
Cast
- Caleb Steinmeyer as Sean Donovan
- Zulay Henao as Teresa Ames
- James Russo as Larry Childs
- Bill Sage as Terry Donovan
- Tracy Middendorf as Mary Donovan
- Chuck Cooper as Bill Baldwin
Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 40% of professional critics gave the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.4 out of 10.[1]
